Diesels Hassle

I have been going back and forth between gas and diesel. I drive enough miles (often over 20,000 miles per year) to justify diesel and think I would like the extra torque. I also spend time in the Rockies, where the extra umph would be nice, if not mandatory. What is holding me back is (1) I know, more or less, how gas engines work, I know nada about diesels beyond the ultra basic, and (2) when I go on diesel forums, there is usually someone complaining about how his diesel died, or had something exotic happen to it that they (well, usually Ford) could not fix. I suspect, though, that I am getting a highly skewed sample. Keeping in mind that I make it a point in life to let dealers do all the work, how big of a hassle is it to own diesel. I would like to use it as a DD. About 25 miles to work.